Lucian Bute defended his IBF Super Middleweight title on Friday night with 9thround stoppage of veteran Jesse Brinkley. The win was simply a case of a good Super Middleweight taking on perhaps the best 168 pounder in the world. The result was exactly what we had come to expect from Bute, a sharp shooting boxer-puncher who may posses the best left hand in boxing. Brinkley was game, but simply outgunned. Bute started quickly and established a good jab combined with sharp straight lefts and short crisp hooks. It was when he started throwing his left uppercut that made it just a matter of time before he had Brinkley ready to go. After a bodyshot dropped Jesse in the 5th, Lucian landed a short left uppercut that made Brinkley taste the canvas once more. Brinkley looked like a beaten fighter as he rose, blood pouring down his face, but he again showed his heart as he beat the count. Finally, in round 9, another, you guessed it, uppercut put Brinkley on his back and the fight was mercifully waved off by the ref. Bute now has his sights set on a possible bout with former Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik. If not Pavlik, then a possible showdown with another Montreal favorite, Jean Pascal, would be huge in Canada. There is no shortage of excellent fights and fighters that the Bute brain thrust http://www.boxingnotes.citymax.com/Bute_ful.html
Bute actually didn't start fast at all, and had he simply pounded Brinkley to the body he would have gotten him out of there in three rounds or so. However, he did finish strong and showed the destructive power of his counter left again. And Pavlik is pretty well made to order for him, so if that fight happens, Bute should get plenty of chances to land that left.
Good fight by Bute although unrelevant. Bute better be prepared when he fights a real opponent. Super 6 sucks big time.
